Cartels could now use the courts to pursue outsiders who were charging ‘unfair’ prices, or prices that were ‘detrimental to the welfare of the nation’. Voluntary cartels were thus transformed into compulsory organizations under state oversight. In 1936, day-to-day supervision of the cartels was delegated by the RWM to the Business Groups and Branch Groups.40 And they in turn used their new standardized accounting systems to help reinforce and refine price-setting discipline.
